Recent research reveals that about 31 percent of boards of directors have served a decade or longer, and there is a movement nationwide to replace highly tenured board members with fresh, new talent. Many companies have a mandatory retirement age of 75 for board members, but analysts expect that age limit to drop due to the new for new ideas and technological prowess.
Women make up only 19.2 percent of board members at companies in the S&P 500, but in 2014 29 percent of new board members appointed were women, and the number of companies with no women on the board dropped to 18 from 25 the prior year. 13 Analysts say it is now no longer acceptable for a company to have zero board members who are women. For example, Twitter’s board was all men at the time of its initial public offering (IPO) and this fact drew widespread criticism.

Source: Based on Rachel Feintzeig, “Changes Ahead for Women on Boards,” Wall Street Journal, January 13, 2015, B1. Also, Joann Lublin, “Boards’ Longtimers Face Pressure to Move On,” Wall Street Journal, December 24, 2014, B6.